Voyager were told that they would represent Australia at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest over Zoom. 

Officials from SBS organised a Zoom call with all five members of the band – who were all in different locations – without briefing them in advance that the chat was about Eurovision. 

Drummer Ashley Doodkorte told The Euro Trip: “SBS pulled the old bait-and-switch on us a little bit. 

“We were all sitting on a Zoom call and we’re throwing around some ideas. 

“We were saying: ‘I think the song could have some drop-off in that point and have an explosion of light here’.

“[They were] just initial ideas because we hadn’t necessarily thought that far ahead. 

“After they heard our ideas they said: ‘Well it’s a good job you’ve got some ideas because you guys are actually going’”. 

The band already had a close relationship with SBS having competed in Australia Decides in 2022. They finished as runner-up to Sheldon Riley who ultimately won the right to represent Australia at Eurovision in Turin. 

SBS chose not to hold a national selection in 2023 owing to “a variety of factors” and picked Voyager to represent Australia through an internal selection instead. 

The band have been planning their staging for a few months since they found out they were going to Liverpool. 

“I’m not terrified in the slightest, I’m impatient and hungry for the stage,” Doodkorte said. 

“I’ve never played on an LED floor before. Little, massive things like that are going to be incredible. 

“We have all of these things at our disposal that we can use to enhance what it is we already do. 

“The way we’re viewing a lot of this is it’s what we do – we work the stage all the time, we have done for 20 years. But, we’re going to dial it up 5000%. We have all of the resources of Eurovision spectacle at our disposal to try and make this a Voyager performance on steroids and that’s what we’re aiming to do.”

Voyager will close the second Eurovision Semi-Final in Liverpool on May 11. 

Featured image – Mick Dann